Successful in defending a case before the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission in the case of Michael McIntyre v. Fluor Maintenance

Mark Vizza was successful in defending a case before the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission in the case of Michael McIntyre v. Fluor Maintenance.  The case was tried before Arbitrator Hennessy in Joliet, and Arbitrator Hennessy found that the petitioner failed to prove that he suffered an accident arising out of and in the course of his employment with the respondent.  The petitioner filed an appeal to the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission and the panel of Susan Pigott, James DeMunno, and Nancy Lindsay, issued a unanimous decision upholding Arbitrator Hennessy's decision.

The petitioner alleges that on July 24, 2003, he suffered an accident arising out of and in the course of his employment with the respondent.  However, by his own testimony, there was nothing to establish that anything occurred on that particular day.  The petitioner did testify that prior to that, he had a neck problem and had surgery and returned to work full duty.  He indicated that some time in June 2003, he began having pain in his neck when he hit his head on scaffolding and/or low pipes.  He testified that this continued through July 9, 2003, at which time it got worse when he was working on his computer at home, turned his head and felt something pop in this neck.  The petitioner testified that subsequent to this, his neck continued to get worse.  He did file a written statement which indicates that he did not know on what day he hit his head on a scaffold bar and that he went to the doctor on July 23, 2003, which was one day before the alleged accident.  A representative of the employer testified that he had a conversation with the petitioner, and he indicated that he did not know when or where he hurt his neck and that he only filled out the accident report because the union wanted him to fill it out.   The medical records showed that the petitioner sought treatment on July 9, 2003, when he had neck and shoulder pain for ten days, and at that time it was becoming worse with an incident at his computer.  The medical records also show that there was no change in MRIs of the petitioner's neck from October 25, 2001, and one done on July 25, 2003.  The arbitrator further found that the petitioner had provided no medical documentation regarding whether or not his current condition of ill-being was causally connected to the July 24, 2003, incident.  The Commission upheld the arbitrator's finding on causal connection, as well as accident and all other issues.